There is a misconception that comes up constantly in regular admission guidance: "my score is about this, so this is my line". But in regular admission there is no single "my score" that applies across all universities. There are as many scores as there are universities.

Universities do not read the result sheet as it stands

A CSAT result sheet carries a standard score, percentile and band for each area. Universities select the values they need and put them into their own formula.

The usual structure is this. Korean and mathematics often use the standard score; the inquiry subjects often have their percentile converted into a converted standard score created by the university. English is graded absolutely, so it is commonly handled by adding or subtracting points by band.

On top of this the area weightings are applied. A university weighting mathematics at 40 per cent and one weighting it at 25 per cent assess the same student entirely differently.

Where the ranking flips

Seeing exactly where the differences arise makes the judgement easier.

• Area weightings — a university that weights your strong area heavily favours you. The first thing to look at.
• Converted standard scores for inquiry subjects — the same percentile becomes a different score depending on the university's conversion table. The effect is larger the more ambiguous your inquiry percentile.
• How English bands are handled — some universities put a large gap between bands, others almost none. If English is a weakness, the small-gap universities favour you.
• Bonus points — some units award bonus points to candidates who took particular subjects. This single item can flip a ranking.

So it genuinely happens that a student ahead at university A falls behind at university B. That is not a mistake; it is the result of design.

How to use the three cards

Regular admission means one application each in groups Ga, Na and Da — three in total. Intake sizes differ by group, and depending on which group your target university and unit sits in, the options themselves are constrained.

Using all three the same way is wasteful. The common allocation is as follows.

1. Reach — wherever the conversion favours you most. Find the university whose weightings match your strengths.
2. Target — around your expected cut-off. Here the size of the intake has a large bearing on stability.
3. Safety — somewhere you could accept the outcome. Using this card as a formality collapses the whole strategy.

Do not do the arithmetic by hand

Conversion formulas differ by university and are decided to a decimal place, so there is no reason to calculate them yourself. Adiga, the university admissions portal, will calculate converted scores by university, and each university's admissions handbook sets out the formula for how results are calculated.

The order is this: check the formula in the handbook, convert on Adiga, narrow the shortlist, then allocate by group. Doing it the other way round — fixing on a university you want and then checking whether your score fits — means missing the options that favour you.

What the standard score and percentile on a result sheet each measure is set out in the CSAT section. Understanding conversion starts with that distinction.

In summary

In regular admission you do not have one score. You have as many as there are conversion formulas. So change the order: instead of choosing a university first and then testing your score against it, find the conversion formula that most favours the shape of your results and allocate your three cards within it.